There are two categories of science fiction: soft sci-fi and hard sci-fi. Soft sci-fi is more like Star Wars and Star Trek; it doesn’t try to explain any of the fantastic things people can do in their universes. On the other hand, hard sci-fi tries to explain some of the more outlandish possibilities. This category is more focused on depicting the future in a factual and plausible manner. Imagine stories from the cyberpunk genre, such as Blade Runner and Ghost in the Shell, as well as timeless works, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey.
In a recent interview, the CEO of Bethesda stated that Starfield would be closer to actual science fiction. This means that the player can draw a line from “okay, here’s how man travels space” to “all right, it has some design aesthetic back to that.”
However, as this is a game, the question is intended to trick you. A challenging work of science fiction video game would be something like you die in space cold.
Howard used the space travel in Starfield as an illustration, specifically how your ship’s gravity motor would consume fuel. In earlier iterations of the game, using the gravity drive resulted in the player’s spacecraft running out of power, at which point the game would abruptly end.
This made using the gravity drive feel like a form of punishment. Starfield’s most recent design takes a different tack, and it does so in such a way as to effectively prevent the player from ever having to deal with the consequences of running out of fuel and becoming stranded in space. In practice, the system will restrict players’ movement to the extent that is proportional to the capacity of their respective gas tanks.
The fuel in your ship and the grave drive now limit how far you can travel at once, but the boat will not run out of fuel, as Howard mentioned. This update was made not too long ago. Although an update or a mod could be released in the future that will enable that, for the time being, we’ll continue to do what we’re doing.
